United Kingdom, island country located off the northwestern coast of mainland Europe.

The United Kingdom comprises the whole of

the island of Great Britain—which contains England, Wales, and Scotland—as well as the northern portion of the island of Ireland. The
name Britain is sometimes used to refer to the United Kingdom as a whole. The capital is London, which is among the world’s leading
commercial, financial, and cultural centres. Other major cities include Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester in
England, Belfast and Londonderry in Northern Ireland, Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and Swanseaand Cardiff in Wales.

The origins of the United Kingdom can be traced to the time of the Anglo-Saxon king Athelstan, who in the early 10th
century CE secured the allegiance of neighbouring Celtic kingdoms and became “the first to rule what previously many kings shared
between them,” in the words of a contemporary chronicle. Through subsequent conquest over the following centuries, kingdoms lying
farther afield came under English dominion. Wales, a congeries of Celtic kingdoms lying in Great Britain’s southwest, was formally
united with England by the Acts of Union of 1536 and 1542. Scotland, ruled from London since 1603, formally was joined with England
and Wales in 1707 to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain. (The adjective “British” came into use at this time to refer to all the
kingdom’s peoples.) Ireland came under English control during the 1600s and was formally united with Great Britain through the Act of
Union of 1800. The republic of Ireland gained its independence in 1922, but six of Ulster’s nine counties remained part of the United
Kingdom as Northern Ireland. Relations between these constituent states and England have been marked by controversy and, at
times, open rebellion and even warfare. These tensions relaxed somewhat during the late 20th century, when devolved assemblies
were introduced in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Nonetheless, even with the establishment of a power-sharing assembly
after referenda in both Northern Ireland and the Irish republic, relations between Northern Ireland’s unionists (who favour continued
British sovereignty over Northern Ireland) and nationalists (who favour unification with the republic of Ireland) remained tense into the
21st century.

The United Kingdom has made significant contributions to the world economy, especially in technology and industry. Since World War
II, however, the United Kingdom’s most prominent exports have been cultural, including literature, theatre, film, television, and popular
music that draw on all parts of the country. Perhaps Britain’s greatest export has been the English language, now spoken in every
corner of the world as one of the leading international mediums of cultural and economic exchange.
 

The United Kingdom retains links with parts of its former empire through the Commonwealth. It also benefits from historical and cultural
links with the United States and is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Moreover, the United Kingdom became
a member of the European Union in 1973. Many Britons, however, were sometimes reluctant EU members, holding to
the sentiments of the great wartime prime minister Winston Churchill, who sonorously remarked, “We see nothing but good and hope
in a richer, freer, more contented European commonalty. But we have our own dream and our own task. We are with Europe, but not
of it. We are linked, but not comprised. We are interested and associated, but not absorbed.” Indeed, in June 2016, in a referendum on
whether the United Kingdom should remain in the EU, 52 percent of British voters chose to leave. That set the stage for the U.K. to
become the first country to do so, pending the negotiations between the U.K. and the EU on the details of the separation.

Land

The United Kingdom comprises four geographic and historical parts—England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The United
Kingdom contains most of the area and population of the British Isles—the geographic term for the group of islands that includes Great
Britain, Ireland, and many smaller islands. Together England, Wales, and Scotland constitute Great Britain, the larger of the two
principal islands, while Northern Ireland and the republic of Ireland constitute the second largest island, Ireland. England, occupying
most of southern Great Britain, includes the Isles of Scilly off the southwest coast and the Isle of Wight off the southern coast.
Scotland, occupying northern Great Britain, includes the Orkney and Shetland islands off the northern coast and the Hebrides off the
northwestern coast. Wales lies west of England and includes the island of Anglesey to the northwest.

Windermere, Cumbria, EnglandWindermere, Cumbria, England.Julie Fryer/Bruce Coleman Ltd.

Apart from the land border with the Irish republic, the United Kingdom is surrounded by sea. To the south of England and between the
United Kingdom and France is the English Channel. The North Sealies to the east. To the west of Wales and northern England and to
the southeast of Northern Ireland, the Irish Sea separates Great Britain from Ireland, while southwestern England, the northwestern
coast of Northern Ireland, and western Scotland face the Atlantic Ocean. At its widest the United Kingdom is 300 miles (500 km)
across. From the northern tip of Scotland to the southern coast of England, it is about 600 miles (1,000 km). No part is more than 75
miles (120 km) from the sea. The capital, London, is situated on the tidal River Thames in southeastern England.

The archipelago formed by Great Britain and the numerous smaller islands is as irregular in shape as it is diverse in geology and
landscape. This diversity stems largely from the nature and disposition of the underlying rocks, which are westward extensions of
European structures, with the shallow waters of the Strait of Dover and the North Sea concealing former land links. Northern Ireland
contains a westward extension of the rock structures of Scotland. These common rock structures are breached by the narrow North
Channel.

The North Channel coast south of Torr Head, Northern Ireland© Michael Jennet/Robert Harding Picture Library

On a global scale, this natural endowment covers a small area—approximating that of the U.S. state of Oregon or the African country
of Guinea—and its internal diversity, accompanied by rapid changes of often beautiful scenery, may convey to visitors from larger
countries a striking sense of compactness and consolidation. The peoples who, over the centuries, have hewed an existence from this
Atlantic extremity of Eurasia have put their own imprint on the environment, and the ancient and distinctive palimpsest of their field
patterns and settlements complements the natural diversity.

Relief

Great Britain is traditionally divided into a highland and a lowland zone. A line running from the mouth of the River Exe, in the
southwest, to that of the Tees, in the northeast, is a crude expression of this division. The course of the 700-foot (213-metre) contour,
or of the boundary separating the older rocks of the north and west from the younger southeastern strata, provides a more accurate
indication of the extent of the highlands.

The highland zone

The creation of the highlands was a long process, yet elevations, compared with European equivalents, are low, with the highest
summit, Ben Nevis, only 4,406 feet (1,343 metres) above sea level. In addition, the really mountainous areas above 2,000 feet (600
metres) often form elevated plateaus with relatively smooth surfaces, reminders of the effects of former periods of erosion.
Ben Nevis from Loch Linnhe, Scotland.Colour Library International

Scotland’s three main topographic regions follow the northeast-to-southwest trend of the ancient underlying rocks. The
northern Highlands and the Southern Uplands are separated by the intervening rift valley, or subsided structural block, called the
Midland Valley (or Central Lowlands). The core of the Highlands is the elevated, worn-down surface of the Grampian Mountains,
1,000–3,600 feet (300–1,100 metres) above sea level, with the Cairngorm Mountains rising to elevations of more than 4,000 feet
(1,200 metres). This majestic mountain landscape is furrowed by numerous wide valleys, or straths. Occasional large areas of lowland,
often fringed with long lines of sand dunes, add variety to the east. The Buchan peninsula, the Moray Firthestuarine flats, and the plain
of Caithness—all low-lying areas—contrast sharply with the mountain scenery and show smoother outlines than do the glacier-scoured
landscapes of the west, where northeast-facing hollows, or corries, separated by knife-edge ridges and deep glens, sculpt the surfaces
left by earlier erosion. The many freshwater lochs (lakes) further enhance a landscape of wild beauty. The linear Glen Mor—where
the Caledonian Canal now threads the chain of lakes that includes Loch Ness—is the result of a vast structural sideways tear in the
whole mass of the North West Highlands. To the northwest of Glen Mor stretches land largely divided among agricultural
smallholdings, or crofts; settlement is intermittent and mostly coastal, a pattern clearly reflecting the pronounced dissection of a
highland massif that has been scored and plucked by the Ice Age glaciers. Many sea-drowned, glacier-widened river valleys (fjords)
penetrate deeply into the mountains, the outliers of which rise from the sea in stately, elongated peninsulas or emerge in hundreds of
offshore islands.

Ben MacduiBen Macdui, Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland.Mick Knapton

Loch TummelLoch Tummel, Perth and Kinross, Scot.Val Vannet

In comparison with the Scottish Highlands, the Southern Uplands of Scotland present a more subdued relief, with elevations that never
exceed 2,800 feet (850 metres). The main hill masses are the Cheviots, which reach 2,676 feet (816 metres) in elevation, while only
Merrick and Broad Law have elevations above the 2,700-foot (830-metre) contour line. Broad plateaus separated by numerous dales
characterize these uplands, and in the west most of the rivers flow across the prevailing northeast-southwest trend, following the
general slope of the plateau, toward the Solway Firth or the Firth of Clyde. Bold masses of granite and the rugged imprint of former
glaciers occasionally engender mountainous scenery. In the east the valley network of the River Tweedand its many tributaries forms a
broad lowland expanse between the Lammermuir and Cheviot hills.

The Midland Valley lies between great regular structural faults. The northern boundary with the Highlands is a wall-like escarpment, but
the boundary with the Southern Uplands is sharp only near the coast. This vast trench is by no means a continuous plain, for high
ground—often formed of sturdy, resistant masses of volcanic rock—meets the eye in all directions, rising above the low-lying areas
that flank the rivers and the deeply penetrating estuaries of the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth.

In Northern Ireland, structural extensions of the Scottish Highlands reappear in the generally rugged mountain scenery and in the peat-
covered summits of the Sperrin Mountains, which reach an elevation of 2,241 feet (683 metres). The uplands in the historic counties
Down and Armagh are the western continuation of Scotland’s Southern Uplands but reach elevations of more than 500 feet (150
metres) only in limited areas; the one important exception is the Mourne Mountains, a lovely cluster of granite summits the loftiest of
which, Slieve Donard, rises to an elevation of 2,789 feet (850 metres) within 2 miles (3.2 km) of the sea. In the central region of
Northern Ireland that corresponds to Scotland’s Midland Valley, an outpouring of basaltic lavas has formed a huge plateau, much of
which is occupied by the shallow Lough Neagh, the largest freshwater lake in the British Isles.

Part of the Mourne Mountains astride Down district and Newry and Mourne district, Northern Ireland.G.F. Allen—Bruce Coleman

The highland zone of England and Wales consists, from north to south, of four broad upland masses: the Pennines, the Cumbrian
Mountains, the Cambrian Mountains, and the South West Peninsula. The Pennines are usually considered to end in the north at
the River Tyne gap, but the surface features of several hills in Northumberland are in many ways similar to those of the northern
Pennines. The general surface of the asymmetrically arched backbone (anticline) of the Pennines is remarkably smooth because many
of the valleys, though deep, occupy such a small portion of the total area that the windswept moorland between them appears almost
featureless. This is particularly true of the landscape around Alston, in Cumbria (Cumberland), which—cut off by faults on its north,
west, and south sides—stands out as an almost rectangular block of high moorland plateau with isolated peaks (known to geographers
as monadnocks) rising up above it. Farther south, deep and scenic dales (valleys) dissect the Pennine plateau. The dales’ craggy
sides are formed of millstone grit, and beneath them flow streams stepped by waterfalls. The most southerly part of the Pennines is a
grassy upland. More than 2,000 feet (610 metres) above sea level in places, it is characterized by the dry valleys, steep-sided gorges,
and underground streams and caverns of a limestone drainage system rather than the bleak moorland that might be expected at this
elevation. At lower levels the larger dales are more richly wooded, and the trees stand out against a background of rugged cliffs of
white-gray rocks. On both Pennine flanks, older rocks disappear beneath younger layers, and the uplands merge into flanking coastal
lowlands.

The Cumbrian Mountains, which include the famous Lake Districtcelebrated in poetry by William Wordsworth and the other Lake
poets, constitute an isolated, compact mountain group to the west of the northern Pennines. Many deep gorges, separated by narrow
ridges and sharp peaks, characterize the northern Cumbrian Mountains, which consist of tough slate rock. Greater expanses of level
upland, formed from thick beds of lava and the ash thrown out by ancient volcanoes, lie to the south. The volcanic belt is largely an
irregular upland traversed by deep, narrow valleys, and it includes England’s highest point, Scafell Pike, with an elevation of 3,210 feet
(978 metres), and Helvellyn, at 3,116 feet (950 metres). Nine rivers flowing out in all directions from the centre of this uplifted dome
form a classic radial drainage pattern. The valleys, often containing long, narrow lakes, have been widened to a U shape by glacial
action, which has also etched corries from the mountainsides and deposited the debris in moraines. Glacial action also created a
number of “hanging valleys” by truncating former tributary valleys.

Mountain-encircled Esthwaite Water in the Lake District of northwestern England.Tom Wright/FPG

The Cambrian Mountains, which form the core of Wales, are clearly defined by the sea except on the eastern side, where a sharp
break of slope often marks the transition to the English lowlands. Cycles of erosion have repeatedly worn down the ancient
and austere surfaces. Many topographic features derive from glacial processes, and some of the most striking scenery stems largely
from former volcanism. The mountain areas above 2,000 feet (610 metres) are most extensive in North Wales. These
include Snowdonia—named for Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), the highest point in Wales, with an elevation of 3,560 feet (1,085 metres)—and
its southeastern extensions, Cader Idris and Berwyn. With the exception of Plynlimon and the Radnor Forest, central Wales lacks
similar high areas, but the monadnocks of South Wales—notably the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons—stand out in solitary
splendour above the upland surfaces. There are three such surfaces: a high plateau of 1,700 to 1,800 feet (520 to 550 metres); a
middle peneplain, or worn-down surface, of 1,200 to 1,600 feet (370 to 490 metres); and a low peneplain of 700 to 1,100 feet (210 to
340 metres). These smooth, rounded, grass-covered moorlands present a remarkably even skyline. Below 700 feet (210 metres) lies a
further series of former wave-cut surfaces. Several valleys radiate from the highland core to the coastal regions. In the west these
lowlands have provided a haven for traditional Welsh culture, but the deeply penetrating eastern valleys have channeled English
culture into the highland. A more extensive lowland—physically and structurally an extension of the English lowlands—borders
the Bristol Channel in the southeast. The irregularities of the 600-mile (970-km) Welsh coast show differing adjustments to the
pounding attack of the sea.

Coastline, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Wales.James P. Rowan

The South West—England’s largest peninsula—has six conspicuousuplands: Exmoor, where Dunkery Beacon reaches an elevation of
1,704 feet (519 metres); the wild, granite uplands of Dartmoor, which reach 2,038 feet (621 metres) at High Willhays; Bodmin Moor;
Hensbarrow; Carn Brea; and the Penwith upland that forms the spectacular extremity of Land’s End. Granite reappears above the sea
in the Isles of Scilly, 28 miles (45 km) farther southwest. Despite the variation in elevation, the landscape in the South West, like that of
so many other parts of the United Kingdom, has a quite marked uniformity of summit heights, with a high series occurring between
1,000 and 1,400 feet (300 and 430 metres), a middle group between 700 and 1,000 feet (210 and 300 metres), and coastal plateaus
ranging between 200 and 400 feet (60 and 120 metres). A network of deep, narrow valleys alternates with flat-topped, steplike areas
rising inland. The South West derives much of its renowned physical attraction from its peninsular nature; with both dramatic
headlands and magnificent drowned estuaries created by sea-level changes, the coastline is unsurpassed for its diversity.

Exmoor National Park, West Somerset, EnglandHeather-covered hills in Exmoor National Park, West Somerset, England.A.F.
Kersting

The lowland zone

Gauged by the 700-foot (210-metre) contour line, the lowland zone starts around the Solway Firth in the northwest, with a strip of low-
lying ground extending up the fault-directed Vale of Eden (the valley of the River Eden). Southward the narrow coastal plain bordering
the Lake District broadens into the flat, glacial-drift-covered Lancashireand Cheshire plains, with their slow-flowing rivers. East of the
Pennine ridge the lowlands are continuous, except for the limestone plateau north of the River Tees and, to the south, the North York
Moors, with large exposed tracts that have elevations of more than 1,400 feet (430 metres). West of the North York Moors lies the wide
Vale of York, which merges with the east Midland plain to the south. The younger rocks of the Midlands terminate at the edge of the
Cambrian Mountains to the west. The lowland continues southward along the flat landscapes bordering the lower River Severn,
becomes constricted by the complex Bristol-Mendip upland, and opens out once more into the extensive and flat plain of Somerset.
The eastern horizon of much of the Midland plain is the scarp face of the Cotswolds, part of the discontinuous outcrop of limestones
and sandstones that arcs from the Dorset coast in southern England as far as the Cleveland Hills on the north coast of Yorkshire. The
more massive limestones and sandstones give rise to noble 1,000-foot (300-metre) escarpments, yet the dip slope is frequently of
such a low angle that the countryside resembles a dissected plateau, passing gradually on to the clay vales of Oxford, White Horse,
Lincoln, and Pickering. The flat, often reclaimed landscapes of the once-marshy Fens are also underlain by these clays, and the next
scarp, the western-facing chalk outcrop (cuesta), undergoes several marked directional changes in the vicinity of the Wash, a shallow
arm of the North Sea.

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The chalk scarp is a more conspicuous and continuous feature than the sandstone and limestone outcrops farther west. It begins in the
north with the open rolling country known as the Yorkshire Wolds, where elevations of 750 feet (230 metres) occur. It is breached by
the River Humber and then continues in the Lincolnshire Wolds. East of the Fens the scarp is very low, barely attaining 150 feet (45
metres), but it then rises gradually to the 807-foot (246-metre) Ivinghoe Beacon in the attractive Chiltern Hills. Several wind gaps, or
former river courses, interrupt the scarp, and the River Thames actually cuts through it in the Goring Gap. Where the dip slope of the
chalk is almost horizontal, as in the open Salisbury Plain, the landscape forms a large dissected plateau with an elevation of 350 to 500
feet (110 to 150 metres). The main valleys contain rivers, while the other valleys remain dry.
Chalk cliffs of Flamborough Head on the North Sea, East Riding of Yorkshire, northern England.© Peter Hulme—Ecoscene/Corbis

The chalk outcrop continues into Dorset, but in the south the chalk has been folded along west-to-east lines. Downfolds, subsequently
filled in by geologically recent sands and clays, now floor the London and Hampshire basins. The former, an asymmetrical synclinal (or
structurally downwarped) lowland rimmed by chalk, is occupied mainly by gravel terraces and valley-side benches and has relatively
little floodplain; the latter is similarly cradled by a girdle of chalk, but the southern rim, or monocline, has been cut by the sea in two
places to form the scenic Isle of Wight.

Between these two synclinal areas rises the anticlinal, or structurally upwarped, dome of the Weald of Kent and Sussex. The arch of
this vast geologic upfold has long since been eroded away, and the bounding chalk escarpments of the North and South Downs are
therefore inward-facing and enclose a concentric series of exposed clay vales and sandstone ridges. On the coast the waters of
the English Channelhave undermined and eroded the upfold to produce a dazzling succession of chalk cliffs facing the European
mainland, 21 miles (34 km) distant at the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel.

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Drainage

The main drainage divide in Great Britain runs from north to south, keeping well to the west until the basin of the River Severn.
Westward-flowing streams empty into the Atlantic Ocean or Irish Sea over relatively short distances. The Clyde in Scotland,
the Eden and Merseyin northwestern England, and the Dee, Teifi, and Tywi in Wales are the only significant westward-flowing rivers
north of the Severn estuary. The drainage complex that debouches into the Severn estuary covers a large part of Wales and the South
West and West Midlands of England. To the south the Avon (flowing through Bristol) and the Parret watershed extend somewhat to the
east, but subsequently, with the exception of the Taw and Torridge valleys, they run very close to the western coast
in Devon and Cornwall.
River SevernRiver Severn at Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Eng.Chris Bayley

River DeeRiver Dee, near Braemar, Scotland.Deus Ex

The rivers draining east from the main divide are longer, and several coalesce into wide estuaries. The fast-
flowing Spey, Don, Tay, Forth, and Tweed of eastern Scotland run generally across impermeable rocks, and their discharges increase
rapidly after rain. From the northern Pennines the Tyne, Wear, and Tees flow independently to the North Sea, but thereafter significant
estuary groupings occur. A number of rivers—including the Ouse, Aire, and Trent—drain into the Humberafter they leave the Pennines.
To the south another group of rivers (including the Ouse, Welland, and Nene) enters the Wash after sluggishly draining a large, flat
countryside. The large drainage complex of the River Thames dominates southeastern England. Its source is in the Cotswolds, and,
after receiving many tributaries as it flows over the Oxford Clay, the mainstream breaches the chalk escarpment in the Goring Gap. A
number of tributaries add their discharges farther downstream, and the total area draining into the Thames estuary is nearly 4,000
square miles (10,000 square km). The important rivers flowing into the English Channel are the Tamar, Exe, Avon, Test, Arun, and
Ouse. The major rivers in Northern Ireland are the Erne, Foyle, and Bann.

Soils

The regional pattern of soil formation correlates with local variations of relief and climate. Although changes are gradual and soils can
vary locally, a division of Britain into four climatic regimes largely explains the distribution of soils.

At the higher altitudes of the highland zone, particularly in Scotland, the weather is characterized by a cold, wet regime of more than 40
inches (1,000 mm) rainfall and less than 47 °F (8 °C) mean temperature annually; these areas have blanket peat and peaty podzol
soils, with their organic surface layer resting on a gray, leached base. A regime similarly wet but with a mean annual temperature
exceeding 47 °F characterizes most of the remainder of the highland zone, particularly on the lower parts of the Southern Uplands, the
Solway Firth–Lake District area, the peripheral plateaus of Wales, and most of southwestern England. These areas are covered by
acid brown soils and weakly podzolized associates. On the lower-lying areas within the highland zone, particularly in eastern Scotland
and the eastern flanks of the Pennines, a relatively cold, dry regime gives rise to soils intermediate between the richer brown earths
and the podzols.

Over the entire lowland zone, which also has a mean annual temperature above 47 °F but less than 40 inches of rainfall, leached
brown soils are characteristic. Calcareous, and thus alkaline, parent materials are widespread, particularly in the southeast, so acid
soils and podzols are confined to the most quartz-laden parent materials. In Northern Ireland at elevations of about 460 feet (140
metres), brown earths give way to semipodzols, and these grade upslope into more intensively leached podzols, particularly in the
Sperrins and the Mournes. Between these mountains in the Lough Neagh lowland, rich brown earth soils predominate.

Climate

The climate of the United Kingdom derives from its setting within atmospheric circulation patterns and from the position of its landforms
in relation to the sea. Regional diversity does exist, but the boundaries of major world climatic systems do not pass through the
country. Britain’s marginal position between the European landmass to the east and the ever-present relatively warm Atlantic waters to
the west exposes the country to air masses with a variety of thermal and moisture characteristics. The main types of air masses,
according to their source regions, are polar and tropical; by their route of travel, both the polar and tropical may be either maritime or
continental. For much of the year, the weather depends on the sequence of disturbances within the midlatitude westerlies that bring in
mostly polar maritime and occasionally tropical maritime air. In winter occasional high-pressure areas to the east allow biting polar
continental air to sweep over Britain. All of these atmospheric systems tend to fluctuate rapidly in their paths and to vary both in
frequency and intensity by season and also from year to year. Variability is characteristic of British weather, and extreme conditions,
though rare, can be very important for the life of the country.

The polar maritime winds that reach the United Kingdom in winter create a temperature distribution that is largely independent
of latitude. Thus, the north-to-south run of the 40 °F (4 °C) January isotherm, or line of equal temperature, from the coast in
northwestern Scotland south to the Isle of Wight betrays the moderating influence of the winds blowing off the Atlantic Ocean. In
summer polar maritime air is less common, and the 9° difference of latitude and the distance from the sea assume more importance,
so that temperatures increase from north to south and from the coast inland. Above-average temperatures usually accompany tropical
continental air, particularly in anticyclonic, or high-pressure, conditions. On rare occasions these southerly or southeasterly airstreams
can bring heat waves to southern England with temperatures of 90 °F (32 °C). The mean annual temperature ranges from 46 °F (8 °C)
in the Hebrides to 52 °F (11 °C) in southwestern England. In spring and autumn a variety of airstreams and temperature conditions
may occur.

Rain-producing atmospheric systems arrive from a westerly direction, and some of the bleak summits of the highest peaks of the
highland zone can receive as much as 200 inches (5,100 mm) of rainfall per year. Norfolk, Suffolk, and the Thames estuary, in
contrast, can expect as little as 20 inches (510 mm) annually. Rain is fairly well distributed throughout the year. June, on average, is
the driest month throughout Britain; May is the next driest in the eastern and central parts of England, but April is drier in parts of the
west and north. The wettest months are typically October, December, and August, but in a given year almost any month can prove to
be the wettest, and the association of Britain with seemingly perpetual rainfall (a concept popularly held among foreigners) is based on
a germ of truth. Some precipitation falls as snow, which increases with altitude and from southwest to northeast. The average number
of days with snow falling can vary from as many as 30 in blizzard-prone northeastern Scotland to as few as five in southwestern
England. Average daily hours of sunshine vary from less than three in the extreme northeast to about four and one-half along the
southeastern coast.

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